Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Today, April 28, 2010, is Secretary'sDay, a day set aside to honor secretaries, administrative professionals, office managers, and executive assistants.

Who are these people that are considered important enough to have a special day commemorating them?

It is a good guess to say they are mostly women, as indicated in this definition offered by WikiAnswers:Secretary's Day - also known as Administrative Professionals Day - is a day to honor that secretary of yours who arranges conferences, greets investors, stocks the office with those hard-to-find supplies, and goes out of her way to make sure the Subway guy doesn't put pickles on your turkey sandwich.

It can be safely assumed, regardless of WikiAnswers, that these women secretaries are more than employees taking care of the boss.

These are the women who excel in every aspect of the job, accepting the responsibility without holding official power.

These are the women who generally know more than the boss knows about the business but would never let him know.

These are the women who, both at home and on the job, are like the glue that holds everything together.

These are the women who are like the proverbial horse that does all the work, yet the cart driver gets the tip.

Someone, probably a male, once said that an executive decides on a course of action and then gets someone else to do the work.

Someone else, probably a female, once said that the fate of secretaries is having all the responsibility and none of the power.

If you read my book, The Secret History of Weeds, you will see that women have managed to wield that elusive power throughout history by being the talented, assertive, dedicated, and responsible people they naturally are.

Every truthful male boss will tell you that these secretaries are the lifeblood of the office. Without them, the boss knows everything suffers.

If you have a woman in your life you depend on, tell her today how much you appreciate her. She does not have to be a secretary, administrative assistant, lawyer, doctor, teacher, or anything other than a woman who acts responsibly and does her best to perform as best she can. Most women fit this description. The ones who do not are those who have been abused, misused, ignored and/or shamed. They can recover only when someone cares enough to help them build back their self-confidence in being a woman.